White House Warns: Another High Reading In February Inflation Report

The White House is bracing for a new inflation report coming out Thursday that it expects will show continued high prices for Americans. The consumer price index, a key report indicating inflation in the US, will be released by the Bureau of Labour Statistics at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday. Last month’s report showed inflation rose to 7.5% in the 12 months ending in January, a near-40-year high.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the administration is expecting February’s consumer price index report to yield yet an even higher inflation figure than January’s 7.5%.

Psaki was asked about the report, scheduled to be published on Thursday, during a White House press briefing, and she noted the administration’s assessment is in part based on elevated energy prices.

“We’ve seen the price of gas increase, as I noted 75 cents since the beginning of the year, as Putin built up his military near Ukraine and took increasingly aggressive measures that were felt in the markets,” she said.

“We also expect some increases in pandemic-affected sectors, given our strong recovery from omicron in February. That’s a positive sign for our economy and for Americans who are going out again, traveling, going to restaurants, and getting back to normal.”

Psaki said the White House does expect to see “continued moderation in used car prices,” a heavy inflationary driver in 2021, but did not provide specifics when pressed on what the administration has done in 2022 to reverse rising prices.

“We’ve seen inflationary pressure, or inflationary numbers, go down month-to-month, even as we looked at the year-to-year numbers go up, which we entirely predicted,” she continued.

“One, we’ve taken steps to address bottlenecks in the supply chain to reduce those bottlenecks. Those are steps we’ve taken not just since October but since earlier this year, and there’s no question that we’ve seen impacts as it relates to getting goods and supplies out to the American public.”

Psaki said the president has focused on “shortages and issues in the semiconductor space,” adding that Biden was set to host a semiconductor competition event at the White House later on the day.